What is required to spark a vision?(Visioning process(2))
In my last article, I talked about the first part of the visioning process: 1) starting with the subjective truth, and 2) paying attention to the gap between the natural flow of consciousness and the partiality of consciousness.
In this article, I will discuss the next part of the visioning process.
Develop “quests” and use one’ s intuition
Once we have (1) connected to the subjective truth and (2) focused on the flow and maldistribution of collective consciousness in the world, we can finally make “quests” and use our intuition to derive visions.
I use the word “quest” here as one that has the form of a question, but with the connotation of a quest for the unknown and the great.
In the 3+1 Consciousness Model, it corresponds to activating the intuitive consciousness. Intuitive consciousness is “the consciousness that intuitively senses the existence of essence, truth, INOCHI(life), and love. In a word, “it is the consciousness that integrate into the One.”
The consciousness that integrates into the One plays the leading role in the derivation of visions.
By the way, have you ever tried to conceive a vision and done a lot of analysis of the market and the competition, only to find that the vision you came up with felt empty, distant from yourself, or just plain commonplace, as if many other companies had the same idea?
This is not to say that market and competitive analysis is useless. It can be useful as a source of inspiration for a vision. However, vision is not an extension of the accumulation of analyses of markets and competitors, or of what is logically derived from them. What we derive from these analyses and logical derivations may provide some clarity and new suggestions, but they cannot be the exciting visions that create new things.
While the thinking consciousness has the direction to understand things by “dividing” them, the intuitive consciousness has the direction to perceive things as a single image by “integrating and synthesizing” them. In order to conceive a vision, it is essential to work not only with the thinking consciousness, but also with the intuitive consciousness.
Most of the time, the reason why the derived visions are boring is because we try to derive them only from our thinking consciousness.
Now that we know that it is important to use our intuition to derive visions, the question arises as to how we can use our intuition.
In conclusion, intuition is activated by “quests” (which has the form of a question, but with the connotation of a quest for the unknown and the great.)
Intuition has the ability to synthesize and integrate things into a single image (Apperception ), so the key is to develop “quests” that will activate it.
Specifically, by being aware of how to formulate the following “quests” (questions), it will be easier for our intuitive consciousness to work.
A. Connection to intrinsic motivation
・How do we want to be?B. Connection with the Greater Good
・What are the essential principles?
・What can we do for society and our surroundings?
・What does the world want us to do?C. Integration of contradictions
How can we integrate the contradiction of X and Y?
Let’s use a concrete example to illustrate. By asking the question of “integration of contradictions” in C above, I hope you will experience that it becomes easier for your intuitive consciousness to work. Which of the following two questions is more likely to spark a unique idea?
X. What does a comfortable café look like?
Y. What does a suspicious but comfortable café look like?
The X café may be easy to imagine, but you may think of a café that could be anywhere. The Y café may not be easy to imagine at first, but if you try to imagine it a little, you can, for example, imagine a café where the staff is dressed as pirates and there is a pool in the middle of the store that resembles the ocean.
In this way, I think the Y question is more likely to bring up unique ideas. The reason for this is that Y questions contain seemingly contradictory elements (suspicious⇄comfortable), which makes it easier for the intuitive consciousness, the consciousness that integrates into the One, to work.
As in the example of this question, it is important to have “quests”(questions) that activate our intuitive consciousness in order to envision a good vision.
The structure of a “quest”(question) that is easy for intuition to come down to in order to conceive a good vision is shown in the figure above. With a bird’s eye view of the whole, we can develop “quests”(questions) that lead to our own intrinsic motivation (e.g., subjective truth) while discovering the greater good.
As a concrete example, let’s say that I develop a vision for schooling.
My subjective truth can be expressed in this way.
【My own subjective truth (expressed with the utmost purity)】
A sense of unity with the greater through the quest for essence
Let’s assume that the natural flow of the world’s consciousness about schooling and the partiality of consciousness are viewed as follows.
The natural flow of consciousness… Rather than an education in which the correct answer is on the exterior and the method to derive the correct answer is efficiently learned, we need an education that values the curiosity of each individual and the way they want to be, as well as cultivating the ability to live in harmony with their surroundings and society.
The partiality of consciousness… Although we are working on initiatives such as comprehensive learning, the premise of efficiently learning how to derive the correct answer on the exterior has not changed.
In this situation, the way to develop “quests”(questions) that will activate our intuitive consciousness is as follows. In order to make it easier for you to understand the process of formulating questions, I will follow the structure of “quests”(questions) in the diagram above exactly, so please forgive me if I am quite verbose. When you develop your own “quests”(questions), I encourage you to grasp this essence and develop “quests”(questions) that are expressed simply.
[Stream of consciousness]
・In response to the current trend that we need an education that values the curiosity of each individual and the way they want to be, as well as cultivating the ability to live in harmony with their surroundings and society, rather than an education that has the right answers on the exterior and efficiently learns how to derive those right answers,
・In a situation where the premise of efficiently learning how to derive the correct answer on the exterior has not changed much,[Discovering the greater good]
In order for each child to acquire the ability to value their own curiosity and the way they want to be, as well as the ability to live in harmony with their surroundings and society,[Connecting to intrinsic motivation (subjective truth)]
How will my subjective truth of a sense of unity with the greater through the quest for essence blossom and come to fruition?
(What would the world want me to do with the subjective truth of “a sense of unity with the greater through the quest for essence?”)
This can be expressed simply as follows.
What is the essence of education that values inner curiosity and what one wants to be, rather than education to efficiently derive the right answers on the exterior? What is the story behind the prevalence of this essence?
So far, I hope you have understood the importance of having good “quests”(questions) in order to activate not only your thinking consciousness but also your intuitive consciousness. Now, the following questions may come to your mind.
Once we have a “quest”(question), will our intuition come down immediately?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is NO. It is essential to have good “quests”(questions) in order to utilize intuition, but having good “quests”(questions) does not necessarily mean that intuition will come to us immediately.
When does intuition come down?
To explain this, let me quote from a letter that Einstein wrote to his friend Solovine. In it, Einstein explains his “way of seeing things”.
(Albert Einstein statue at Museum of Cosmonautics at Moscow in Russia)
In it, there is the following description.
…there exists no logical path that leading from the E to A, only an intuitive (psychological) connection, which is always merely “until further notice.”
(Albert Einstein)
Einstein is famous for discovering theories that are core to modern physics, such as the theory of relativity, but he noted that there is no logical path that leads to such theories, only intuitive connections, and that they do not come immediately, but with a time lag, “until further notice.”
The intuition for a “quest”(question) may come down today, or a month, or a year from now.
This is one of the major differences from the approach of analyzing and logically constructing ideas with thinking consciousness. Basically, the more we analyze and build logic with our thinking consciousness, the more progress we will make. Of course, there may be times when our thoughts go in circles, but in the big picture, the more we do, the more progress we will make.
However, this is not the case with intuitive consciousness. When the intuition doesn’t come, there is no sense of progress at all, and we may feel anxious about whether we will really get some kind of solution. It is not something that progresses steadily with the passage of time.
On the other hand, when the intuition comes down, we get a vivid image of what we have in mind, with a shock as if we could see all the solutions. It’s like seeing a powerful light in a dark room that leads to the exit.
The important thing to remember is that without good “quests”(questions), intuition is unlikely to come down.
The important thing to remember is that good “quests”(questions) lead to good intuition. And by using thinking awareness, anyone can have good “quests”(questions) and be ready for intuition to come to them at any time. So, anyone can utilize their intuition.
Therefore, I recommend that once we have a good question, we should wait patiently until we receive further notice. This is similar to the image of “God helps those who help themselves.”
In the metaphor of a computer, it is like having a program running in the background that takes a lot of computation time while we do the work we need to do at hand. Someday, it will give us an answer.
In this article, I talked about ‘Developing “quests”(questions) and using our intuition’ as a continuation of the visioning process. In the next article, I will talk about the final part of the visioning process.
Here are the quests of the day. (If you’d like, please share your thoughts in the comments.)
・What experiences, if any, have you had where intuition has come to you, or where something has sparked in you?
・What “quests”(questions) do you think you consciously or unconsciously asked yourself as a background to such intuition and inspiration?
Bunshiro Ochiai
